BattleZone - mind blown

DavidVideo

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I recently picked up a Battlezone.

Nothing on the screen. Failed self test indicating some bad chips - so i sent it off to have it repaired.

Here's what's been done:

1. Replaced big blue.
2. Tested all fuses on power supply and within the monitor cage. Continuity tested good on all.
3. Had both boards and the ARII board professionally serviced. Lots of work was done. Boards all tested good and were test run for 3+ hours.
4. When I re-installed the boards, nothing. Even the self test will not run. All I get is one audible "blip".

Other symptoms:
1. LED's on both boards are lit.
2. Marquee and coin door lit.
3. Monitor: I do have neck glow, but it's faint. Spotkiller LED comes on briefly during power up but stays off.

I can't figure out what's wrong or where to go from here given all the work that's been done thus far.

Any suggestions?
 
I recently picked up a Battlezone.

Nothing on the screen. Failed self test indicating some bad chips - so i sent it off to have it repaired.

Here's what's been done:

1. Replaced big blue.
2. Tested all fuses on power supply and within the monitor cage. Continuity tested good on all.
3. Had both boards and the ARII board professionally serviced. Lots of work was done. Boards all tested good and were test run for 3+ hours.
4. When I re-installed the boards, nothing. Even the self test will not run. All I get is one audible "blip".

Other symptoms:
1. LED's on both boards are lit.
2. Marquee and coin door lit.
3. Monitor: I do have neck glow, but it's faint. Spotkiller LED comes on briefly during power up but stays off.

I can't figure out what's wrong or where to go from here given all the work that's been done thus far.

Any suggestions?
If the AR and boardset were repaired, and the cabinet has not damaged them, then logically the fault lies with your game. It must be somewhere in the AC, the brick, the wiring harness, etc.

Have you tested all voltages at the AR (to and from)? Even if the monitor is not working, the boardset, if receiving good power and working, should coin and play blind.

Scott C.
 
So I spent some time cleaning the edge connectors. The game played blind after doing that. I then took out the deflection board and HV unit and had them serviced. Now, the screen will come up briefly when the machine is powered on, but will fade away after a few seconds. Adjusting the brightness POT does nothing. Game will play blind though.

At this point, I'm going to replace the four case resistors and see if that fixes it. I can't think of anything else that would cause this - everything else in the monitor has been checked/tested unless the tube itself is bad.
 
So I spent some time cleaning the edge connectors. The game played blind after doing that. I then took out the deflection board and HV unit and had them serviced. Now, the screen will come up briefly when the machine is powered on, but will fade away after a few seconds. Adjusting the brightness POT does nothing. Game will play blind though.

At this point, I'm going to replace the four case resistors and see if that fixes it. I can't think of anything else that would cause this - everything else in the monitor has been checked/tested unless the tube itself is bad.
If you seen a picture that faded away it is likely solder joints on the widest molex connector on the deflection board, flaky 6.3v to the tube or an hv board issue. Does the tube have neck glow? How the the fuse continuity on the brick?
 
Do you actually see a picture on the screen? When it fades does it grow in size? Or just get dimmer? I had an issue on an Asteroids that the screen would get dim. Ended up being a poor ground at the game board.
 
if you haven't serviced the HV cage and know that the deflection board is working right you're not going to make much progress here. vector is an entire different art.

https://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Monitors/How to Bring Up a 6100 Monitor - v20170517.pdf (andrewb guide, it's for color 6100 but most of the same deflection board test procedures apply)
https://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Monitors/FAQ Black and White XY Version 1.1 dated 7 Feb 02.pdf (applies more to your monitor, obviously cause it's for B&W)

if either of the 700/600 deflection fuses are blown you'll know where to start. if your monitor still has R100/101 then one of them is out of spec or bad, which will trigger spotkiller and give you a blank screen. you just jumper the points of those resistors with wire. the vast majority I've worked on had this done already, but I did get one at my current job where it wound up being a very easy fix. lol
 
Do you actually see a picture on the screen? When it fades does it grow in size? Or just get dimmer? I had an issue on an Asteroids that the screen would get dim. Ended up being a poor ground at the game board.
Yes, but only briefly on power up. It does not grow in size when it fades. Just gets dimmer - it fades pretty quickly until it disappears.
 
if you haven't serviced the HV cage and know that the deflection board is working right you're not going to make much progress here. vector is an entire different art.

https://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Monitors/How to Bring Up a 6100 Monitor - v20170517.pdf (andrewb guide, it's for color 6100 but most of the same deflection board test procedures apply)
https://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Monitors/FAQ Black and White XY Version 1.1 dated 7 Feb 02.pdf (applies more to your monitor, obviously cause it's for B&W)

if either of the 700/600 deflection fuses are blown you'll know where to start. if your monitor still has R100/101 then one of them is out of spec or bad, which will trigger spotkiller and give you a blank screen. you just jumper the points of those resistors with wire. the vast majority I've worked on had this done already, but I did get one at my current job where it wound up being a very easy fix. lol
Yes, the deflection board and HV cage have been serviced. I do not have the spotkiller LED on.
 
Do not start replacing things randomly. That's a noob move. You want to TROUBLESHOOT here, meaning systematically making measurements using tools, to narrow down what's wrong, and what the root cause is. Do not fix games by guessing.

Learn to use the Advanced Thread Search page here. All of the answers to your issues are in the archives here. Every problem you could ever have with a vector game has been posted, discussed, and answered here before, more than once.

Spend more time reading and learning, and less time guessing. You should not be replacing any parts unless you have done MEASUREMENTS to know that they are bad.

Do this test: When you press and hold the reset button on the game board while it's playing blind, if the spot killer LED on the monitor's deflection board turns on, then turns off when you release reset then you have XY deflection. That means the XY deflection circuits are working, and the frame TRANSISTORS (not resistors) are fine, and do not need to be replaced.

Who serviced your deflection board?
 
Do not start replacing things randomly. That's a noob move. You want to TROUBLESHOOT here, meaning systematically making measurements using tools, to narrow down what's wrong, and what the root cause is. Do not fix games by guessing.

Learn to use the Advanced Thread Search page here. All of the answers to your issues are in the archives here. Every problem you could ever have with a vector game has been posted, discussed, and answered here before, more than once.

Spend more time reading and learning, and less time guessing. You should not be replacing any parts unless you have done MEASUREMENTS to know that they are bad.

Do this test: When you press and hold the reset button on the game board while it's playing blind, if the spot killer LED on the monitor's deflection board turns on, then turns off when you release reset then you have XY deflection. That means the XY deflection circuits are working, and the frame TRANSISTORS (not resistors) are fine, and do not need to be replaced.

Who serviced your deflection board
I understand what you're saying - but these machines are 40+ years old - what tested good today may fail tomorrow. Although my primary goal is to get them up and running - I'm also trying to restore them. I'm not replacing random parts - just eliminating points of failure and hardening against future failures. When dealing with old stuff...whether cars or arcade machines, sometimes it's not a bad idea to upgrade/replace when you have the machine apart. I've always had bad luck when taking a piecemeal approach to fixing up old machines. In this case, I've already had the game PCB's and ARII board completely gone thru. I tested the power brick myself (checked fuses, connections) and replaced the big blue. Once it played blind, I moved on to the monitor.

I reviewed the archives but did not find a thread with an issue exactly like mine. That's why I came here. This is not a simple problem. Archives are a great resource - but it's rare that you'll find a thread with an issue exactly like the one being experienced. I've found that there's almost always a small difference or slightly different symptom, and that can make all the difference in the world. Sometimes those threads will send you down a rabbit hole to nowhere.

I've had the deflection board serviced twice - didn't work after the first go and had to send it back. The Tech ran/tested the board for several hours along with the HV unit according to the video he sent me. But the monitor still isn't working properly.
 
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